Alleged manslaughter victim had cuts, bruises and off-smelling school lunches, court told
Jasmine was allegedly criminally neglected by her mother, Jenni Wilmott, who is standing trial accused of her manslaughter. (Supplied: SA Supreme Court)
In short:
Jenni Gaye Wilmott is standing trial in SA's Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her 15-year-old daughter, Jasmine.
A primary school friend has told the court that Jasmine came to school with cuts, bruises, and had lunches that "would smell quite off".
What's next?
The trial is continuing.
A teenage girl who died following years of alleged criminal neglect at the hands of her mother attended school with "bruises all over" her, a court has heard.
Warning: This story includes references to child abuse and self-harm, which may be distressing to readers.
Jenni Gaye Wilmott, 56, is standing trial in South Australia's Supreme Court after previously pleading not guilty to the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her daughter, Jasmine.
Opening the trial last month, prosecutor Jemma Litster told the court that 15-year-old Jasmine took her own life on October 4, 2018, following five years of alleged criminal neglect.
The court heard the allegations included that Ms Wilmott withheld food from Jasmine, locked her in an alarmed room, and made her do chores in her underwear.
At the time of her death, Jasmine weighed 32 kilograms, was 144 centimetres tall, and had a body mass index of 15.4.
Jenni Wilmott is standing trial accused of the manslaughter and criminal neglect of her daughter, Jasmine. (ABC News: Eva Blandis)
On Monday, a former school friend of Jasmine's at St Dominics Priory College, Grace Willmore, told the court that Jasmine would sometimes attend school covered in bruises.
"There was often bruises all over Jasmine … I saw her in year five with a cut lip and a black eye,"she said.
The former student, who was at school with Jasmine between years 3 and 5, said her friend sometimes came to school with an empty lunch box.
"Sometimes there'd be nothing, other days there would be a bag of carrot sticks or some sort of sandwich," she said.
"Sometimes she'd say she wasn't hungry, other times she'd say she wasn't packed any food by her mum."
Lunches 'didn't seem' edible
Ms Willmore said that the sandwiches Jasmine would be packed "would smell quite off".
"The sandwich, it often didn't seem, from my point of view, edible," she told the court.
"When she opened it, it would smell quite off to myself and other a lot of girls in the classroom.
"That's why a lot of girls wouldn't sit with her.
"It was on two pieces of bread, and it was like a yellow-y paste with chunks in it. It smelt quite pungent, quite off."
Jenni Wilmott is standing trial in the Supreme Court. (ABC News: Che Chorley)
She also told the court that, on occasions, Jasmine would take food from her.
"When we'd go to our lunch boxes to get our food out, obviously, I'd open it, and she would take it out straight away. Other times, my food would go missing and I'd see her eating it," she said.
Earlier this month, the court heard Jasmine had been seen to take food out of rubbish bins at school.
Julie Daly, who had been asked by Ms Wilmott to transport Jasmine to school, also said her daughter had also been asked to watch Jasmine during mealtimes.
"She [the daughter] was coming home distressed and saying that Jasmine had eaten food out of the rubbish bins at school and that she would go on the bus in the morning and ask other children for food," she said.
The trial is continuing.